WRSD to adopt school bus fee

By Diane Spoor
Staff Reporter

A major change is coming to the transportation funding model at Wild Rose School Division.

At the Jan. 20 regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, the board passed a motion to implement student transportation fees starting in September of the 2026/27 school year for students who use bus services.

WRSD Superintendent Jodie Mattia said, “This is the second year of a significant deficit in the transportation budget.” She said the first year the board made the decision to use reserves to cover the deficit but she said “that is no longer available because we would be below what the government expects us to hold in terms of reserves.”
Mattia said most rural school divisions are in similar positions as the cost of transportation continues to increase but the funding from the province does not keep pace. Mattia said the Board of Trustees is advocating “really hard with the provincial government in regards to concern around the transportation dollars” but she also encourages WRSD families to also advocate to the province for transportation to meet current costs.

“If they can, advocate with us that rural needs are different and rural schools need more funding for transportation,” she encouraged.

Mattia said she has definitely heard concerns and questions from WRSD parents, specifically in relation to other areas of the budget. She explained that the money the school division receives from the province is specifically earmarked for each different part of the budget. For example, the division cannot take money from administration and direct it to transportation. She said the province has a funding manual, which is a public document, that dictates how education funding is divided up. Funding for administration is limited to approximately five per cent of the overall budget. 

Mattia said part of the challenge with bussing came about when the province reduced the ride time which meant additional routes were required, which then required additional busses and drivers. She added in a division like Wild Rose, bus routes can still be very long, such as the one from Nordegg.

Mattia said in just the last handful of years the cost of a school bus has more than doubled to between $180,000 to $230,000. In addition, Mattia said the province also mandated a safety training program (Mandatory Entry-Level Training) for the drivers, that, while important, came at an increased cost that has not been fully compensated within the province’s transportation dollars.

Mattia said when all of these points are brought to the province’s attention their response has been “you’ll need to figure that out.”

“When we talk about the bussing challenge, our trustees and our central office team, none of us want to give that cost to parents, and they’ve done their very best to hold that off as long as we can, but where else can we get that funding from?” Mattia questioned.

While the board has determined fees will be charged next school year, Mattia said the specifics are still being determined. The division is exploring a maximum of $300 per partially funded student and a maximum of $600 per unfunded student. The board is looking at choices such as payment plans, multi-child discounts, and payment schedules.

As the board and division explore options an updated FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) will be regularly updated on the Wild Rose School Division website.